Energy

MDU Resources Group says it is making progress on its project to build a natural gas pipeline from the existing pipeline system near Mapleton to the Viking Gas Transmission Company pipeline near Felton, Minnesota.

It would be a 38 mile, 16-inch diameter pipeline.

"It's been demand-driven from the start," said MDU Resources spokesman Tony Spilde. "We're getting requests for more natural gas on the system."

Spilde said this project is going to enhance reliability for local distribution companies, from Bismarck to the Viking system near Felton.

As the number of barrels of Bakken crude oil shipped by pipeline increases, the number of rail loading facilities in western North Dakota has dropped.

"During the height of the crude by rail activity in North Dakota, we had north of 20 rail loading facilities scattered throughout North Dakota," said North Dakota Pipeline Authority director Justin Kringstad. "now it's consolidated to around 12 facilities that are still loading crude oil, primarily on trains headed to the west coast, and some to the east coast."

AARP has filed with the Public Service Commission to formally intervene in the latest Montana Dakota Utilities Company’s natural gas rate increase.

"This is the third natural gas rate increase for MDU in the last 4 years," said AARP state president Josh Askvig.

MDU is asking to raise its rates by 5.4 percent. That would mean $5.9 million. MDU will do this by raising the fixed rate cost – the cost charged just to bring the natural gas to the home. It would bring that cost to $22.58 a month. Askvig said four years ago, the charge was $9 a month.

Battles over oil pipelines and oil trains usually focus on the risks of accidents and spills, but a new study finds that air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from oil transportation take a greater financial toll.

North Dakota officials have noticed an uptick in the number of oil wells transferring ownership in the Bakken.

Nearly 700 wells are in the process of being transferred from longtime North Dakota operators to new ones, mineral resources director Lynn Helms said Tuesday in his department’s monthly oil and gas briefing.That number’s unusual given that, recently, only 100 wells were transferred in a typical month.

“Companies have re-evaluated their business model and decided to focus on an area where they’re having greater success,” Helms said.